Monday, May 28, 2012

Have A Happy Mindful Memorial Day

Well, how do you do, Private William McBride, Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside? And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun, I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done. And I see by your gravestone you were only 19 When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916, Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly? Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down? Did the bugles sound The Last Post in chorus? Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined? And, though you died back in 1916, To that loyal heart are you forever 19? Or are you a stranger without even a name, Forever enshrined behind some glass pane, In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained, And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France; The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance. The trenches have vanished long under the plow; No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now. But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land The countless white crosses in mute witness stand To man's blind indifference to his fellow man. And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride, Do all those who lie here know why they died? Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?" Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain, For Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again, and again, and again, and again.

What Loudon Wainwright III said...

Hey, Bob Dylan, I wrote you a song.Today is your birthday if I'm not wrong.If I'm not mistaken you're fifty seventy one today,How are you doin', Bob? What do you say?...

The first record album I ever bought with my paper route money was the first one Dylan made. I soon joined the legions with my own boots, cap and geetar. There's still a Dylan song in every set I play.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Good question.

I continue to think about something Fox News' Brit Hume said a few months ago. Reflecting on Romney's flip-flops, said, "You're only allowed a certain number of flips before people begin to doubt your character."

I'm curious -- is Romney also allowed a certain number of falsehoods before people begin to doubt his character? And if so, what is that number?

Some number smaller than the one that's been documented, in a just world...

Thursday, May 17, 2012

From the "Just the facts..." file.

According to the Boston Globe's analysis, if Romney wins, he'll be the "first presidential candidate elected without carrying his home state since before the Civil War. James K. Polk lost Tennessee en route to the White House -- 168 years ago."

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

From the "He's smarter than he looks" file.

Getting smarter all the time, too, it seems. Email from Dennis Kucinich...

After careful consideration and discussions with Elizabeth and my closest friends, I have decided that, at this time, I can best serve from outside the Congress. My commitments to peace, to workers' rights and to social and economic justice are constant and are not dependent upon holding an office. They are dependent upon my continuing to stand up, to speak out, to organize, to motivate and to inspire our nation as to its deeper potential. This I promise I will do with great energy and heart.

Shouldn't have taken much consideration or discussion at all, but a good call in the end. Dennis has a lot more to offer as an outside agitator than a carpetbagging pol.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Me too, also...

I find it sad and disheartening to listen to the likes of McMorris Rodgers make excuses for her party being on the wrong side of bigotry, sexism, hatred and allowing for violence to escape prosecution if you believe the person the act was committed against is a second class citizen.